The invention described herein was made in the performance of work supported by the Office of Naval Research (Contract No. N-0014-82-C-0202).
The generation of chemiluminescence by the reaction of an ester or amide of an oxalic acid with a source of hydrogen peroxide in the presence of a fluorescer compound in aqueous solution is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,053,430 and 4,282,357. Recently, U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,931 has issued which discloses an improvement over the previous systems whereby a surfactant is added in minor amounts to the aqueous solution, or to solid mixtures which are then mixed with water, in order to enhance the emission intensity of the resultant system. While the use of a surfactant in such systems has enhanced the emission intensity thereof, industry is still continuously on the lookout for ways and means of further enhancing the emission intensities, light capacities and efficiencies of chemiluminescent systems.